REGULATIONS GOVERNING THE AUTHENTICATION OF DOCUMENTS BY THE OVERSEAS CONSULAR OFFICIALS Article 11

All documents and relevant files shall be kept on file at Overseas Offices. These files shall not be removed from Overseas Offices unless MOFA or other authorities concerned borrow the files in accordance with the relevant regulations, duplicates of the files have been produced, or the documents need to be removed due to an emergency. Documents related to the authentication of wills shall be stored for a period of fifty years; documents related to the acquisition, expropriation or transfer of real estate shall be stored for a period of ten years; authentication registers shall be stored for a period of thirty years. Except in the circumstances described in the preceding paragraph, files related to authentication shall be stored for three years. However, files may be destroyed earlier if necessary. Storage periods as set out in Paragraphs 1 and 2 above shall accrue from January 1 of the year following the date of registration. The rules set forth above are applicable to documents, files and registers which have been closed but not yet destroyed.